THE TORCH OF REASON, SILVERTON, OREGON. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1896.
I-TT" —
n t 1.
J*» ’
T
was properly docile for ft time.
One Sunday h<»wev»r, his teacher
ClIICA«. >, II., Dec. 24, 1896.— To expatiated to her class al>out In-Il,
th e Edit* r:
1 he ('liicag o S ecular what a terrible place it was etc.,
Union, organized since the close of and how sin* was sure tin y w ouldn’t
the national congress, is now in a any of them want to g o there, etc.,
very prom ising condition
On last and appealed to the “ gat h ered ’’ one
Sunday ♦*•. ...
wd-og
':*• «■*&
• " >1
.
<
'. 4 - w e - 4 = « f c - ».
»,
gam zaiion was term inât' ! by
c h e r , ’’ -.iid •“riv- “ A rab,”
adoption of a constitution and »-lec “ don’t give us any mon* o f'h a t rot.
tion of officers in accordance with
My Pa says there aim any such
its provisions. Mr. Gamuiag»* who place.”
was acting president is retained in
Then there was silence for a
that im portant office and the indi space.
F. s. M.
cations are th at In; can he de
Q uestion Box.
pended upon to do h 's wln»le duty.
[Questions or anowere (or publication
I am prepared
to give hut
lew n a m e s at this writing, but quite solicited. Semi them in early .]
a num ber Iw-th men and women
W hich is better to be a croaker
take ;t lively interest in the organi- and croak at the m istakes of others
zition find show by their liberal or do som ething ourselves?
contributions that they w ant it to
Because some men do wr mg
live. One gentlem an, whose name . should we disown our connections
J cannot recall, donat' d 40 acres of with the hum an race?
land to the Union.
Thin will j If a professed Secularist does
probably be turned into cash in the ! wrong, does th a t lessen our duty
most advantageous m anner. The tow ard the cause or increase it?
membership fee is $1 per year and
As a rule which are the more
.
« I • honorable
1 i kind
• i and l charitable,
l
1
the first d o llar was paid in h^
Wong Chin Foo, a C hinam an who professed C hristians or professed
Secularists?
was educat d in this country.
Are little children natu rally
'This gentlem an i* ft reformer in
its broad» si sens»» and a-4 I under C hristians or Secularists?
W hich is nobler, io strive w ith all
stand sjH-nds much of his time in
aiding his own countrym en who our m ight to gain a future state of
the
get info difficulties in this country. bliss for ourselves, or for
Mr. Foo was elected first vice- earth ly happiness of the h u m an
race?
president.
Does a C hristian lady love her
N»*xt S unday’s meeting will be a
m em orial to Samuel P. Putnam Jesus more th an she does her bus-
whose u n tim ely! death loaves a hand?
If Jesus w a s a perfect exam ple,
vacancy in the ranks of free-
and have
thought th a t will he h ard indeed should men m arry
homes anti families?
to fill.
Was it as wrong fo r C hristians
One of the most serious problems
th at confronts us is the raising of to teach the Rom ans th a t their
funds as we have no gods to fall pagan religion was wrong, as it is
back on nothing but simple tru th for Secularists to teach th a t Cliris-
and honesty— we are necessarily tianity is wrong?
W hich is better an atheist that
denied some of the most productive
m ethods employed hy our C hris loves
,eB his fam ily and is a good,
Iwr
n e s t. n progressive
n u r r e s tiv e m
il, o oi r
honest,
m a an,
tian friends, hut we expect to get sober, Im
a m an who believes in God hut is
t here just the same.
.J. B. B eattie .
cruel to his family, intem perate,
2202 Wilcox Ave. dishonest and unprogressive?
C o m m u n icatio n s.
T urner , O il , Dec. 26, 1896.—To
he E d ito r: At the C hristm as tre e
n th e Baptist church here on
Christinas n ig h ', ft lady gave a
ittle lecture to the juveniles, on
he institution of C hristm as as a
ioliday. She repeated the usual
>rfcl»od<»x story, th a t the day was
lie b irthday of C hrist etc., and
probably believed the story she
old th e m . And the undevelop» d
nind of childhood, “ wax t«> receive,
tnd m arble to retain,’ probably
relieved it too, because there was
io one to give the other side of
hr story. T hus the “crying,’’ aye,
he howling need of Secular Sun-
av schools is apparent.
But it appears th a t a ray of
reel* thought is invading even the
»rtho.lox Sunday schools.
I, is related of a street “ A rab”
here who was “ gathered in ” to the
)rtho<lox Sunday school “ a s a brand
•lucked from the b u rn in g ,” th at he
flo ra lity
vs Theology.
Every good or moral act is fol
low»*»! hy good, not only to others,
hut also to self, because it tends to
in»*reas»* the strength of those facul
ties by which it is performed. On
the other hand, not only is every
al • “ Tniowed hy its
» 'Wi
objective bad results, hut it leaves
its traces in the character of
the actor—strengthening
facul
ties which should he left to dwindle
into disuse. Instead of prayer, the
utterance of petitionary words to a
m an-like God, as a m eans of attain-
irig our ends, will be substituted
labor in the light of science. No.
temples will beset ap a rt for propi-j
tialing ami pleasing an im aginary
deity; the mind itself will be a
temple where conscience will be
continually propitiated
by the
fulfilm ent of duty. In stead of the
discoveries of science being received
with continual dread and dislike,
everyone of them will be welcomed
as glad tidings of great joy. One
"1
_ i it i _1
_ ~ be known,
more advance,
will
has been made in the great work of
dim inishing the pain and increas-
ing the pleasure of hum an life.
The foot of man, it will he felt, has
been planted one step higher in the
course of his evolution. At the
close of life, again, no m irage of an
im aginary heaven will be needed to
generate
hope;
nor will any
hideous phantom s of an angry God
and an eternal hell be present to
terrify the mind.
The impene-
trahlt darkness of the unknowable
will be looked upon with calmness,
and approached w ithout thought of
fear.— John W ilson.
J e s u s of N azareth .
It is a well known tru th th a t in
the second century the C hristians
were divided into m any se*‘ts which
biMei.lv aitiaKreed
each other.
/
,,
.»
Prom inent among these were the
gnostics who stoutly claim ed that
Je(jus |)ad nQ corp(,ral existc, ice,
<m| they worship|K,(1 him as a
N ew s from P o rtlan d .
spirit only. It a t th at early date
-----------
an im p o rtan t branch of the cliris-
Since the last writing, grim death t ians doubted and denied the cor-
has enter»-«! our fold and robbed poral existence of Jesus, does n
usof one of our most precious lambs. not ai least present a plausible rea-
Tuesday m orning last little R uth 8on why others who com e after
Bailey ’lied of dipht heria after an ill them should be troubled with the
ness of about 9 days. Mr. and Mrs. sam e class of doubts? The bitt»-r
Bailey „ »»re , prostrated with _ g rie f and long-continued contest which
over the loss of this flower of th e raged in the 4th century, between
fam ily. Little Ethel takes it hard
1.....1 ihe Arians and the A thanasians
hut is a great c o m fo rt to tie r p a r the one denying the divine nature
ents. The funeral took place the «>f Jesus, the other affirm ing it, are
same afternoon, Mr. P. W. Geer m atters of history.
preaching the funeral sermon. Tin*
No less than 38 councils w» re
m any friends of the grief stricken called
....................................
to settle their t prolonged c >n-
family» tender them their most tentions, and during their session
heartfelt sym pathy in this their soldiers were em ployed hy both
h °u r of bereavem ent.
sides to defend their positions, anil
JoE B E R T .
they sometimes engaged in the
D uring early years every civil contest and blood flowed freelv.
¡zed man passes through that phase The conflict of opinion between the
of character e x h ib ited by the bar- A rian bishop Macedomus and the
barous race from which he is de- A thanasian Paul, caused the death
geeuded.— H erheit Spencer.
of 3000 persons in the streets of
C onstantinople. The A rian bishop
of A lexandria sought to convert
the A thanasian widow’s am i virgins
to sounder theolgoical view-» by
stripping them naked, scourging
the soles of their feet ami scorching
them over slow’ fires. A C hristian
Em peror sought to convince the
opponents of the Aria» theory by
drow ning 80 priests upon a single
occasion.
H. D, B.
( to be continued .)
The fact is that all breaches of
health are physical sins. W hen
this is generally seen, then, and
perhaps not till then, will the phy
sical
training
of the
young
receive all the attention it deser
ves.— H erbert Spencer.
We give the T orch oe R eason
and the T ru th Seeker for one year
to new’ subscribers, for $3. The
'P orch of R eason and Free T hought
Magazine for one year to new
subscribers for $1.75.
S eculdr N ew s.
P. W . G eer was suddenly ealle<I to
P o rtlan d T uesday to deliver th e funeral
address of little ltu th ie Bailey who »lied
at the hom e of her p aren ts on th e *29
in st. ltu th ie was one of our m ost active
little w orkers in th e Secular Sunday
school and her d eath will he m ourned
by both young am i old. O b itu ary will
ap p ear n ex t week. '
We have a n o th e r typo th is week and
now we will be able to be m ore p ro m p t
w ith our p ap er.
N ettie A.Ol«ls lectured at M cM innville
last Sunday evening on the subject of
The C h ristm as Festival.
llo lid av exercises at th e P o rtlan d
Secular Sunday school n e x t Sunday.
S ecularists of Chicago arc organizing.
R em em ber w hat we say. T here will be
g reat changes in th e religion of our
country in the next deca«le.
If we succeed in our work Silverton
will see a big boom n ex t S um m er, and
we will succeed. W hy not? T his is a
lieautiful co u n try w ith its m ild clim ate,
its fine fru it, its ex cellen t soil and best
of all its lib erty loving people. Come
am i help us.
Miss Ada Dewey o u r p ian ist will be
here n ex t week. All w ishing to tak e
lessons on th e piano should let us know
as soon as possible.
Miss R after o u r new typo m akes a
valuable addition to our ran k s of busy
w orkers.
Mis« Olds is tak in g a vacation am i so
if the L ittle C andle is som e w hat d e
layed th is week d o n ’t th in k th a t it has
gone out. U nder a bushel, in a horn.
T here will be a gram! concert given
bv the Silverton M arine Band next S u n
day evening in addition to th e sh o rt a d
dresses by th e meml>ers of the faculty of
th e Lib -ral U niversity.
U n iv e rsity L ib ra ry .
Those w ishing to l>e»*onie m em bers of
th is A ssociation m ay «Io so by c o n
trib u tin g one or m ore goo«l books.
M em bers who have joined d u rin g the
m onth of D eeem ber.
P. W . G e e r. 10vol. C ooper's C om plete
W orks.
M. Fitzjerrell 2vol. H istory of C h rist-
ian itv .
IL L. Allen 12 vol. S co tt’s W orks.
W a PPU
R e 'c u
^ e a r t!